Fort Collins, Colo.—Bilingual education and its potential benefits are at risk of becoming limited in Colorado with a proposed amendment to the State Constitution.

Ron Unz, a multimillionaire and software entrepreneur who has financed campaigns to eliminate bilingual education in California and Arizona, is financing a campaign to get an anti-bilingual initiative on Colorado’s 2002 November ballot.

The initiative calls for a constitutional amendment that would require schools to mainstream Spanish-speaking students into English-only classes after they have participated in a transitional program for one year.

Supporters of bilingual education are prepared to fight the initiative and have come together under the name “English +.” They emphasize that bilingual education allows students to learn in their own language while they learn English at a rate appropriate for them.

“When Spanish-speaking students learn in their own language, they excel,” said Jessica Retana, an El Centro employee and senior sociology/criminal justice and Spanish double major.

“When they don’t, these kids sit in class and are scared; they are turned off by students and teachers who don’t know how to talk to them,” she said. “It creates a negative experience for them, which is why they drop out of school. It is a slow transition from Spanish to English for these kids.”

Colorado Student Assessment Program exam scores seem to support the belief that children read and write better if they do so in their own language. Test scores show that two to 14 percent of Spanish speaking fourth-graders met or exceeded proficiency standards on the English version of the reading exam, while 31 percent met standards on Lectura, the Spanish version.

Others argue children who aren’t mainstreamed into English speaking classes are at an immediate disadvantage, and immersion into English classes would help students become fluent.

“Adopting the culture you live in is important if you want to prosper,” said Sara Perry, a senior majoring in human development and family studies. “If you can’t speak the language quickly, at least by high school, you’re in a bad place.”

Unz said he adopted the anti-bilingual cause because he believes bilingual education has never been effective in giving immigrant children a chance to succeed in the American workplace, according to the Dallas Morning News.

“What choice do the parents of these students have?” said Karyann Moriz, a junior consumer family studies major. “They can’t help their children learn English at this fast rate when they don’t know English themselves. I learned in an education class that if students can go home and talk to their parents about what they’ve learned they have a better chance of succeeding.”

Others have raised concerns about the potential hurt the initiatives would inflict on dual-language schools such as Fort Collins’ Harris Bilingual Elementary School. Dual-language schools implement a format where students speak English one week and Spanish the next. The goal is to have students emerge from the school bilingual.

Amy Satterfield, a senior lecturer of journalism at CSU, enrolls her daughter at Harris. She notes there’s linguistics research suggesting children who learn a second language also open their brains to learning other types of things.

“I would be very opposed to getting rid of a dual-language program like Harris’,” Satterfield said. “They are taught their language is equally deserving of respect, and yet, they emerge from the sixth grade knowing both languages. Language is a very important element of culture, and a school like Harris teaches its students that their culture is equal to others, others that may not be dominant in Colorado. So dual-language schools aren’t just about learning another language — they’re about celebrating oneself and living.”



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